Practice Test

Why it is hard

Every option cites a study about plants or nature, and two name feelings, a relaxing effect and compassion, which sound more psychological than the key's creativity and productivity. The decision rests on two conditions from the paragraph: the benefit must be psychological, and the nature must be indoors. Students who test only one condition end up with the compassion study, which is not about indoor spaces, or the hotel, whose finding is about popularity.

1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

   The compassion choice and the key both report a study tying natural elements to a mental effect; the compassion study drops the indoor setting that sentence 13 specifies and turns to caring for others. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

2. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

   The added sentence sits between sentence 13's research on “encountering natural elements while indoors” and sentence 14's one plant per 100 square feet, so it must give evidence about nature indoors. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

3. A lot to read minor Understanding the question

   The options run 31 to 37 words, each describing a different study, so four separate findings must be read and held against the paragraph's point. (Kintsch, 1998; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Restate sentences 11 and 13 in your own words, then ask of each option whether it gives evidence for that exact point or for a related benefit the paragraph does not discuss.

Traps

• Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.
• Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.

The wrong answers, classified

• B Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Spots indoor plants and a “relaxing effect,” but the finding is that a hotel is popular with guests, a business result rather than evidence about people's well-being.

• C Too broad or too strong (King et al., 2004)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Sees compassion as a psychological benefit, but the study covers exposure to “natural elements” in general, not the indoor encounters of sentence 13, and its benefit is caring for others.

• D Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Accepts any benefit of indoor plants, but rooms that seem quieter are an acoustic advantage, not the psychological effects that sentence 11 names as the paragraph's subject.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

The stray sentence is camouflaged by its links to the opening: screens recall the media of sentence 1, and “isn't natural” sounds like the passage's theme. What gives it away is its advice, to leave the building, when the passage argues for bringing nature into it, along with its chatty tone. Students who cut a sentence for being general or practical have judged by style rather than by the passage's claim.

1. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

   Sentence 16 echoes sentence 1's “endless media content” with its “electronic screen,” so it seems connected, yet its call to “get outdoors” pulls against a passage about bringing plants inside. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

2. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

   The four listed sentences span paragraphs 3 and 4, and each mentions nature, plants or well-being, so each must be read in place and tested against the passage's point. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Say in one phrase what the whole passage argues, then read each listed sentence in place and ask whether it supports that argument or steers the reader toward a different idea.

Traps

• Fixes what isn't broken: Changes a part of the sentence that was already correct, while the real error stays; or, where the question asks which sentence has an error or should go, picks one that is correct and belongs.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Cuts sentence 11 because it turns from air quality to the mind, though it is the topic sentence of the paragraph on psychological benefits.

• B Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Sees the advice of one live plant per 100 square feet as a practical aside, though it tells readers how to get the benefit the passage describes.

• C Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Thinks sentence 15's “connecting with nature” strays beyond indoor plants, missing that “even just by being near an indoor plant” ties it directly to the passage's topic.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

Sentence 3 announces itself: tourism has nothing to do with brick. The second deletion is the trap, because sentence 14 sits after a sentence about factories employing the region’s population and looks like a continuation. Students who reject population as a topic often delete sentence 8 instead, which measures a cause the passage names, and students who judge by sound cut the general “boom times eventually end,” which turns the passage toward the industry’s decline.

1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

   Sentences 8 and 14 are both population statistics; what separates them is that sentence 8 measures the “surging population” sentence 7 names as a cause, while the Valley’s growth in sentence 14 explains nothing. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

2. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

   Each kept sentence earns its place by its links: sentence 18 turns from boom to decline, sentence 23 echoes the landmarks of sentences 1–2, and sentence 14 merely follows sentence 13’s “region’s population.” (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

3. Much to keep track of minor Working it out

   Five tiles, one from each paragraph, are judged against both their paragraph and the whole passage, and both picks must be right, so two relevance tests run side by side. (Sweller, 1988; Carpenter, Just & Shell, 1990)

Strategy: Sum up the passage’s topic in one phrase, then read each of the five sentences in its paragraph and ask whether removing it would leave a gap in the ideas around it; delete only sentences that leave none.

Traps

• Fixes what isn't broken: Changes a part of the sentence that was already correct, while the real error stays; or, where the question asks which sentence has an error or should go, picks one that is correct and belongs.
• Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.

The wrong answers, classified

• B Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Sees a population figure in a passage about bricks and cuts it, missing that sentence 7 names “surging population” as a cause of demand and sentence 8 measures it.

• D Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Hears “boom times eventually end” as a cliché that adds nothing, though sentence 18 opens the fourth paragraph and turns the passage from the industry’s growth to its decline.

• E Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Thinks sentence 23 only repeats the conclusion around it, though it ties the brickmakers’ output back to the famous buildings of sentences 1–2.

• C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Left unchosen by students who link it to factories that “employed much of the region’s population,” though the paragraph is about the factories’ output, not the Valley’s growth.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

• Explanation: The handbook’s explanation quotes sentence 14 as “Population growth in the Hudson River Valley after the mid 1800s was substantial.” The passage and the tile say “mid-1800s,” so the site now quotes it that way.
• Explanation: The handbook’s explanation says “The information in sentence 14 comparing population growth rates between the region and New York City are not needed.” The subject is “information,” so the site now says “is not needed.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

The paragraph’s logic has a gap between a change in taste and the closing of the factories, and only one option fills it. The Flatiron example is the strongest lure because it follows naturally from steel in sentence 20, and the shipping-costs option tempts students who see that the paragraph explains a decline. Both are reasonable sentences; they fail because they do not link the new materials to fewer bricks.

1. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

   Sentence 20 says builders favored steel, glass and concrete; sentence 21 says reduced demand closed every factory. The missing step, that the new materials cut brick purchases, is what the added sentence must supply. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

2. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

   All four options concern building materials or brickmaking, and three would be true and on topic somewhere in the passage, so each must be judged at this exact spot. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Restate the point of sentences 18–21 in one sentence, then ask of each option whether it would help a reader see how that point follows from sentence 20, not just whether it is true and related.

Traps

• Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Follows the new materials into public taste, whether they looked as strong as brick, but never connects that shift to fewer bricks, the link the paragraph needs.

• B Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Offers a believable second reason for the decline, rising shipping and labor costs, but the paragraph blames shifting architectural trends, and this sentence does nothing to explain them.

• C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Gives the Flatiron Building as an early steel-framed example, which suits sentence 20 alone, but turns to one landmark instead of showing how the new materials cut demand for brick.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

• Explanation: The handbook’s explanation of Option D ends “It also supports, with a detail about the closing of the last factory, the idea in sentence 18 that the entire Hudson Valley brickmaking industry was ended.” Option D (“The more that New York City builders chose to use these materials, the fewer bricks they bought.”) contains no detail about a factory closing; the closing of every factory is sentence 21, already in the passage. The idea that the entire industry ended is in sentence 19 (“Shifting architectural trends halted not only the Hudson Valley’s brickmaking boom, but its entire industry”); sentence 18 says only that “boom times eventually end.” The site now says “It also supports the idea in sentence 19 that shifting architectural trends ended the entire Hudson Valley brickmaking industry.” Option D is still the answer.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

Sentence 18 states its focus plainly, so the question mostly tests whether students hold to it. Two choices drift back to the mental side of the passage, discipline, focus and other skills, which paragraphs 2 and 3 have already covered. The closest wrong answer stays on physical health but describes the people who train, so it adds nothing about how training improves fitness; the key is the only one to list effects on the body.

1. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

   Sentence 18 names one benefit, “perhaps the greatest of these is health and fitness,” so the next sentence must give details of that benefit, not of the mental ones the passage covered earlier. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

2. A very close wrong answer minor Choosing the answer

   The choice about health-minded trainees and the key both concern training and physical health; the key says what the exercise does for the body, the other only what trainees care about. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Reread sentence 18 and note which benefit it singles out, then ask of each choice whether it gives specific details about that benefit or shifts to another one.

Traps

• Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Lists discipline, focus, self-control and respect, qualities from paragraph 2, and adds careers, but sentence 18 singles out health and fitness for adults.

• B Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Starts with adults training “to get exercise,” which sounds on topic, but its point is the other skills they gain without realizing it, a turn away from fitness.

• D Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Stays on physical health but says what trainees care about, not what training does for them, so it gives no detail about the benefit sentence 18 names.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

• Explanation: In the DOE’s explanations appendix, the explanation printed after this question belongs to question 40 (“the concluding sentence that best replaces sentence 23 and supports the topic presented in the passage”) and marks B correct, and this question’s explanation (“the sentence that would best follow and support sentence 18”) is printed after question 40, marking C correct. Read page by page, the appendix gives this question the answer B. The site gives the question the explanation that restates it, and the answer follows that explanation: C, because sentence 18 names health and fitness as the greatest benefit for adults, and Option C gives specific ways that training improves fitness.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

Sentence 11 is camouflaged: it starts with a linking word, and a reader can argue that students who take longer to finish cost the state more. The paragraph, though, is about funding and taxes, and sentence 11 turns to why students switch majors or work. Students who cut sentence 13 sense a move toward solutions, but it still voices the critics, and the question rewards checking that each other sentence advances their case.

1. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

   Sentence 11 opens with “Additionally,” and sentence 12's “these circumstances” can be read as gathering it in, so the stray sentence looks attached to the critics' argument. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

2. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

   Because sentence 11 can be defended, the answer comes mainly from confirming that sentences 10, 12 and 13 each carry the critics' case, which means testing every listed sentence. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: State the critics' argument in a few words, then check whether each listed sentence adds a link to that argument or turns aside to a different issue.

Traps

• Fixes what isn't broken: Changes a part of the sentence that was already correct, while the real error stays; or, where the question asks which sentence has an error or should go, picks one that is correct and belongs.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Cuts sentence 10 as a loose prediction, though more students needing more funds is the link between state funding in sentence 9 and the critics' fear of higher taxes.

• C Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Removes sentence 12 as mere opinion, though it states the critics' conclusion, higher taxes or lower quality, which the whole paragraph builds toward.

• D Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Senses a turn when the critics propose “narrower college-affordability efforts,” but sentence 13 still reports what “They think,” completing their case rather than leaving it.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

The sentence to delete is the only one in the paragraph that mentions volunteering, so students who test each sentence against the essay’s topic keep it and cut one of the others. The paragraph’s point is narrower: sentence 5 says volunteering “may sound impossible” for many students, and sentences 6, 8 and 9 list what already fills their schedules. Sentence 7 is loosely related, which is why the stem asks for the least relevant sentence rather than an irrelevant one.

1. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

   Sentences 6, 8 and 9 list the commitments that already fill students’ time, schoolwork, activities, family and jobs, while sentence 7 turns to what volunteering itself demands and breaks that list. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

2. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

   Every candidate touches on students’ busy lives, and sentence 7 is the only one that mentions volunteering, so each must be tested against the paragraph’s exact point rather than the essay’s topic. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Say in a few words what sentences 5 and 10 tell you the paragraph is about. Then test each listed sentence: does it add to that point, or does it shift to a different one?

Traps

• Fixes what isn't broken: Changes a part of the sentence that was already correct, while the real error stays; or, where the question asks which sentence has an error or should go, picks one that is correct and belongs.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: moderate

  Cuts sentence 6 because schoolwork says nothing about volunteering, judging by the essay’s topic word, though schoolwork is the first commitment on the paragraph’s list.

• C Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Treats extracurricular activities as a separate subject, though sentence 8 adds another after-school demand to the list explaining why volunteering seems impossible.

• D Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Senses that the paragraph lists school pressures and cuts family obligations and part-time jobs as outside school, missing that “too” adds them to the same list of demands.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

Every option stays on the subject of college, so the work is matching sentence 12’s exact idea: counselors see applicants who care about making their community a better place. The near miss also explains what counselors value, but it swaps caring for the community for a new set of traits and ends on what those traits do for the applicants. Students who restate sentence 12 before reading the options can hear that the right one simply widens it, from community service to what colleges want beyond grades.

1. A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer

   The right sentence and the two-sentence option about responsible, reliable, helpful students both explain why volunteers impress admissions; only the right one keeps sentence 12’s point, caring about improving communities. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

2. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

   The new sentence must extend sentence 12’s specific idea, what admissions counselors see in volunteers, rather than return to sentence 11’s skills and careers or move on to college life. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

3. A lot to read minor Understanding the question

   The options run 27 to 39 words, two of them two sentences long, and all four are about college, so topic alone rules none of them out. (Kintsch, 1998; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Restate sentence 12 in your own words, then ask of each option whether it explains or extends that exact point about what admissions counselors value.

Traps

• Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Follows the admissions counselors from sentence 12 but replaces caring for the community with new traits, responsibility and reliability, and turns to how those traits help the applicants.

• B Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Is drawn by “applying to colleges,” but networking for references and future employers is a new benefit that neither sentence 11 nor sentence 12 develops.

• C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Stays with the counselors and picks up “college campus” from sentence 12, but jumps ahead to what students might do in college instead of explaining admission decisions.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

All four choices are about tunnel-boring machines, so topic alone settles nothing. The right sentence shows how the machines work and leads into their size in sentence 8, while the strongest wrong one wanders into geology. Some students also distrust the cheese-grater comparison as too casual, though a vivid analogy is exactly the kind of support a definition needs.

1. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

   The new sentence sits between sentence 7, which defines the machines, and sentence 8, which gives their size, so it has to keep describing the machines that dug this tunnel. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

Strategy: Reread sentence 7 and note exactly what it describes, then test each choice by asking whether it tells the reader more about that same thing or starts a new point.

Traps

• Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.
• Wordy, vague or informal: A revision is grammatical but wordy, imprecise or too casual for the passage.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Wordy, vague or informal (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Accepts a general claim that the machine is “helpful to tunnel builders in the modern era”, which praises it without adding any detail about how it works.

• C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Explains why the tunnel could not be built earlier, turning from what the machines are to the project's history, a topic the paragraph never takes up.

• D Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Builds on the term “cutter head” from sentence 7, but varying heads for different geology starts a new subject that the paragraph never returns to.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

The paragraph drifts gradually, which makes this harder than a plain hunt for the odd sentence out. The Channel Tunnel arrives in sentence 15 as a comparison that still concerns the Gotthard tunnel's importance, and only the next sentence leaves the Gotthard tunnel behind entirely. Students who cut at the first mention of the other tunnel lose the point, so it pays to ask which sentence says nothing about the Gotthard tunnel or the travel it speeds up.

1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

   Sentence 15 is the first to mention the Channel Tunnel, so it looks like the shift, but it still compares that tunnel with the Gotthard; sentence 16 is wholly about car trains under the Channel. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

2. How sentences fit together minor Working it out

   The paragraph's focus, the faster travel the Gotthard tunnel will bring, has to be held while each of sentences 13 through 16 is tested against it. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

Strategy: State the paragraph's topic in a few words, then check each listed sentence against it. The sentence to cut is the one that talks about something other than that topic.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Cuts sentence 13 as a vague restatement, but “It will be faster for people to travel between northern and southern Europe” is the paragraph's central claim.

• B Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Treats the Zurich-to-Milan example as a side detail, though the hour saved between those cities is concrete proof of the faster travel the paragraph promises.

• C Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Rightly senses the Channel Tunnel is a detour but cuts the comparison that still concerns the Gotthard tunnel, leaving in sentence 16, which is only about car-carrying trains.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

Every choice says something favorable about libraries, so a student who asks only whether a sentence fits the essay will find all four acceptable. The question rewards narrowing the test to sentence 8’s own idea, the loneliness of a digital age and the need for company. The teen book clubs, toddler story times and exercise classes for seniors are what make the right sentence a support rather than a new topic.

1. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

   Sentence 8 ends on “human connection and companionship,” so the sentence after it must give an example of people meeting each other, not just another good thing about libraries. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

Strategy: Restate sentence 8 in a few words, then ask of each choice whether it gives a concrete example of that exact idea or just says something good about libraries.

Traps

• Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.
• Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: moderate

  Offers a pleasant general fact about libraries preserving community history, which matches the word “community” but says nothing about loneliness or human connection.

• B Wrong part of the text (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Describes hearings and town halls, which belong with paragraph 4’s “town meetings” and civic engagement, and concern leaders running events rather than people finding companionship.

• C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Brings in funding from local, state and federal dollars, a new topic that neither illustrates sentence 8’s need for connection nor advances the essay’s claim.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it